Page 130 - Eye of the beholder

Krishna had a special appeal for people of India, particularly in the hill areas of Western Himalayas. Krishna was the cowherd, closer to the simple farmers, foresters, and herdsmen, and they regarded him as one of their own kind. Mothers adored Krishna as a naughty and playful child. Young boys adored him as a young cowherd lad, who played among the cow pens, tended calves and cows and wove wreaths of leaves and wild flowers in the forest. The mature and grown up worshipped him as an ideal lover and God. The divine youthful Krishna led a glorious Arcadian life in the forest, and legend surround him with all that was beautiful: shady bowers, grassy carpets, murmuring streams, exquisite gardens and beautiful women. Krishna and Radha are not just symbols of God and his creation, of Purusha and Prakriti, they are also the symbols of man and woman, and Krishna-Leela is their eternal love play. The enchanting stories of Krishna and the gopis are the echoes of yearnings of young men and women who pass through similar experiences.
Bhakti movement popularized the cult of Krishna and Radha through poetry and literature in which the development of Ashtanayikas/Nayakas or the eight types of heroines and heroes conflated with Krishna and Radha, in them suffering the pangs of separation from lover/ husband according to their various emotional states. These varied states were of rejection, union, anticipation etc.
THEMES IN RAJPUT MINIATURES
The thematic content particularly of miniatures belonging to Rajput tradition was diverse in nature comprising of subject matter that was both religious and secular. Of the religious themes the most important were illustrations from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Works such as Gita Govinda and Bhāgavata Purana illustrated the Krishna cult, with poetry by Chaitanya, Surdas, Kabir, Tulsi Das Keshav Das and Biharilal. The central theme of love between Radha and Krishna was profusely illustrated in a variety of ways evident from the illustration of Ragamala [Garland of musical modes], Baramasa [twelve months] and the Nayak-Nayikabheda. Sanskrit classics as Kadambari by Bhanabhatta and Naisadhacharita by Sriharsha which deals with the story of Nala-Damayanti, Kalidasa’s Meghdoot among others were all integral to Indian miniatures. Folk lore and legends, love stories as Dhola Maru, Shiri Farhad, Laila Majnu, Sohni Mahinwal and Pancatanra stories were equally popular. Literary texts as Gita Govinda by Jayadeva, Rasikapriya by Keshav Das, Baramasa by Bhanudatta, illustrations of musical modes or Ragamala i.e. moods associated with different musical ragas, poetry of Kabir Das, Sur Das’s ‘Sur Sagar’, Biharilal’s ‘Sat Sai’ provided the inspiration for differing love states through the protagonist Krishna and Radha. To these themes were added court scenes and royal portraits, a fashion set by the Mughals. The custom of employing court artists and maintaining ateliers or karkhanas however small became a matter of prestige among the feudal lords of late Mughal times.
The use of visual metaphors in Indian art was especially prevalent in images associated with Vaishnava Bhakti, focusing on the Hindu avatars of Krishna and Rama that was popular in Northern India during the 14th–19th centuries. Numerous poems and prose expressed the core belief of the Bhakti movement that a devotee's loving adoration for one's personal deity was a metaphor for the ultimate union with a transcendent god.
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